Rural Crime Watch - RDNewsNOW

By Josh Hall

TACKLING RURAL CRIME

TACKLING RURAL CRIME

Jun 17, 2019 | 12:20 AM

RED DEER — An Alberta MP is trying to create stiffer penalties for those convicted of a crime that takes place in a rural area.

Red Deer-Lacombe’s Blaine Calkins (Conservative Party of Canada) says rural residents are right to be fed up with the seemingly revolving door utilized by criminals.

Other MPs involved on the task force included Rachael Harder (Lethbridge), John Barlow (Foothills), Glen Motz (Med Hat), anf Arnold Viersen (Peace River).

Calkins’ bill, C-458, would propose that the Criminal Code of Canada be amended to add ‘evidence that an offence was directed at a property or person vulnerable due to their remoteness from emergency services’ be an aggravating circumstance when judges get to sentencing.

“I’m tabling this bill now because the public safety committee didn’t offer any real solutions in their two-page report on the study of rural crime. I find this to be an appalling lack of sensitivity, and victims in rural areas deserve better,” Calkins said.

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He, along with Dreeshen, central Alberta UCP MLAs Ron Orr and Devin Dreeshen, and several area crime watch advocates, announced the new bill at Red Deer County councillor Richard Lorenz’s farm on Saturday.

Lorenz admitted he’s been lucky to not have had crime affect his property directly, but neighbours haven’t been as fortunate.

“We always wonder when it might happen, and people don’t think of the fact that if somebody breaks in and steals something, my rates go up, so I’m paying for it, and the other person who stole it gets slapped on the hand and is back out,” lamented Lorenz.

“A person with a welding truck had it locked in his shop, but forgot to take the keys out, so they broke in, stole his truck, and the insurance company says they’re not helping him because he left the keys in. It cost him $20,000. That’s what the private citizen gets dealt and it’s not fair.”

Red Deer County Councillor Richard Lorenz (left) and Red Deer-Lacombe MP Blaine Calkins at Lorenz’s County property on Saturday. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

Lorenz added that trust has gone out the window.

“Today, you see somebody walking own the road for exercise, but you wonder or second guess if that somebody is looking for a vehicle,” he said. “We’re all on edge out here, and the friendly neighbourhood atmosphere is gone because all of a sudden you dont trust anyone.”

According to the findings of the Rural Crime Task Force documented in an October 2018 report, rural Alberta crime rates were 38 per cent higher than urban crime rates in 2017.

It made 14 conclusions, among them that there need to be additional RCMP, stronger articulation of defense of person and property rights, increased funding for mental health and addiction services, and targeted reforms to the prison system.

The committee report, which Calkins also noted contained feedback from zero of the Liberals’ 55 rural MPs, concluded that effective crime reduction measures for rural areas should include adequate police resources, partnerships with the community, robust victim support, and a justice system which inspires public confidence.

Calkins said should he not find a fellow MP to move the bill before the end of the current Parliamentary session, he will re-table it if and when he is re-elected this fall.